Genesis 39:6
Neither knew he any other thing, but the bread which he ate. And Joseph was of a beautiful countenance, and comely to behold.
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- Vulgate (Clementine)
- nec quidquam aliud noverat, nisi panem quo vescebatur. Erat autem Joseph pulchra facie, et decorus aspectu.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- καὶ ἐπέστρεψεν πάντα ὅσα ἦν αὐτῷ εἰς χεῖρας Ἰωσήφ, καὶ οὐκ ᾔδει τῶν καθ᾽ ἑαυτὸν οὐδὲν πλὴν τοῦ ἄρτου οὗ ἤσθιεν αὐτός. καὶ ἦν Ἰωσὴφ καλὸς τῷ εἴδει καὶ ὡραῖος τῇ ὄψει σφόδρα.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וַיַּעֲזֹ֣ב כָּל אֲשֶׁר לוֹ֮ בְּיַד יוֹסֵף֒ וְלֹא יָדַ֤ע אִתּוֹ֙ מְא֔וּמָה כִּ֥י אִם הַלֶּ֖חֶם אֲשֶׁר ה֣וּא אוֹכֵ֑ל וַיְהִ֣י יוֹסֵ֔ף יְפֵה תֹ֖אַר וִיפֵ֥ה מַרְאֶֽה
Haydock's commentary
Bread. A proverbial expression, to shew how entirely he reposed in Joseph's fidelity and prudence. (Menochius)
He was so rich, that he knew not the extent of his wealth. So Petronius says, Nescit quid habeat, adeo Zaplutus est. It may also be understood as a commendation of Joseph's disinterestedness.
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St John Chrysostom A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles, Homily XLIX on Acts xxiii. 6-8
Such are God’s ways of ordering: the very things by which we are hurt, by these same are we benefited. Thus it was with Joseph: his mistress sought to ruin him: and she seemed indeed to be contriving his ruin, but by her contriving she placed him in a state of safety: for the house where that wild beast (of a woman) was kept was a den in comparison with which the prison was gentle. ( Gen. xxxix. 1-20 .) For while he was there, although he was looked up to and courted, he was in constant fear, lest his mistress should set upon him, and worse than any prison was the fear that lay upon him: but after the accusation he was in security and peace, well rid of that beast, of her lewdness and her machinations for his destruction: for it was better for him to keep company with human creatures in miserable plight, than with a maddened mistress. …
St John Chrysostom Homilies on Second Corinthians, Homily VII
[7.] Come then, let us discourse to you on this, the love of beauty, and let us see whereby the mischief is increased; for so we shall know whether the fault be ours, or not ours. And if ours, let us do everything to get the better of it; whereas if not ours, why do we afflict ourselves for nought? And why do we not pardon, but find fault, with those who are made captive by it? Whence then is this love engendered? ‘From comeliness of feature,’ saith one, ‘when she that woundeth one is beautiful and of fair countenance.’ It is said idly and in vain. For if it were beauty that attracted lovers, then would the maiden who is such have all men for her lovers; but if she hath not all, this thing cometh not of nature nor from beauty, but from unchaste eyes. For it was when by eyeing too curiously, thou didst admire and become enamored, that thou receivedst the shaft. …
St John Chrysostom The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Timothy, Titus, and Philemon, 1 Timothy 1:15,16
Moral . Let us then “glorify God,” and bear God both “in our body and in our spirit.” ( 1 Cor. vi. 20 .) And how is one to glorify Him in the body? saith one, and how in the spirit? The soul is here called the spirit to distinguish it from the body. But how may we glorify Him in the body and in the spirit? He glorifies Him in the body, who does not commit adultery or fornication, who avoids gluttony and drunkenness, who does not affect a showy exterior, who makes such provision for himself as is sufficient for health only: and so the woman, who does not perfume nor paint her person, but is satisfied to be such as God made her, and adds no device of her own. …